THE THREE POLAR STARS
A photograph of Captain Roald Amundsen, Sir Ernest H. Shackleton, and Rear Admiral Robert E. Peary, taken at Philadelphia, January 16, 1913.
Another is to inaugurate and carry out, in a special ship, with a corps of experts, through a period of several seasons, a complete and systematic survey and study of the entire circumference of the Antarctic continent with its adjacent oceans, with up to date equipment and methods. This plan would probably be the most attractive to scientists, as it would secure a large harvest of new and valuable material to enrich our museums and keep our specialists busy for years. It would also be the most expensive.
The third would be the thorough exploration of the Weddell Sea region southeast of Cape Horn, which is specially within our sphere of interest, together with a sledge traverse from the most southern part of that sea to the South Pole. Such a traverse, with the journeys of Amundsen, Scott, and Shackleton from the opposite side, would give a complete transverse section across the Antarctic continent.
This last would promise the largest measure of broad results in the shortest time, and least expense, and would probably be the most attractive to geographers.
The successful accomplishment of any one of these ventures would put the United States in the front rank of Antarctic achievements.
SUPPLEMENTARY READING—“Nearest the Pole” and “The North Pole,” Peary; “On the Polar Star,” Duke of the Abruzzi; “The Heart of the Antarctic,” Shackleton; “Farthest North,” Fridtjof Nansen; “The Uttermost South—the Undying Story of Captain Scott,” Everybody’s Magazine, July, August, September, and October, 1913.